Nurturing Teachers’ Research Mindset in an Inquiry-Based Language Teacher Education Course

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of an inquiry-based teacher education course in nurturing second language (L2) teachers’ research mindset, defined herein as their cognition and action toward research. One hundred and thirty pre- and in-service L2 teachers of various nationalities participated in a teacher education course on instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) at an Australian university. The course was designed following an inquiry-based approach, with course activities focused on promoting teacher learners’ curiosity about ISLA issues and their engagement both with and in research. Data were collected before, during, and after course participation, using a precourse survey, written reflections, and focus group interviews. Findings revealed that the inquiry-based course activities enabled the teacher learners to adopt a stronger research mindset. They were able to articulate the importance of research for teaching practice and gained firsthand experience as well as increased confidence in conducting research. They also showed inclination toward research-informed teaching and were keen to maintain their newly established favorable relationship with research, despite acknowledging concerns about their future actual research engagement, mostly due to time constraint and lack of institutional support. These findings suggest implications for nurturing language teachers’ research mindset within L2 teacher education courses.